Missed
by Drarry97
Summary: Helga moved when she was younger. By the time she hits college she is positive that she is over a certain Football Head. What happens when they run into each other again?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** **: Ok, so I haven't been writing anything for a while and I kind of want to get back in it. But I'm having an issue writing anything because I think everything sounds bad that I write. So I figure that I will post this whether it is bad or not and everyone can tell me if it's good. I have a couple of Hey Arnold! fics on my mind so here goes, I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer** **: Hey Arnold! does not belong to me and I am not making any money from this.**

When Helga moved away from Hillwood the summer before fifth grade, she thought that her life was over. Big Bob expanded his beeper emporium, which now consisted of cell phones and GPS devices as well, to California and made a lot more money than he had in Hillwood. It took a while before she was able to stop moping and decided to make the best of her newfound situation, and Helga realized that it wasn't all that bad.

The rest of elementary school passed, along with junior high and high school finding Helga with friends and the best grades in her graduating class and a full scholarship to NYU to become a child therapist. Her love for writing hadn't stopped but she was still wary of too many people reading her work, plus she remembered Dr. Bliss and how she had helped her. So Helga moved into her new dorm room and met her roommate who had more interest in boys than school.

Helga had dated a few times, and even had a long term relationship that started at the end of eighth grade and was great until they ended it at the beginning of tenth grade after they had given each other their virginity and both decided to call it quits. Since then, she had had a few one night stands and fewer relationships. Helga had also not allowed her mind to think back to when she was a kid with an obsessive crush, which is what she called it now, because it obviously could have been love at that age; no matter how real it had felt at the time.

Her first semester of college went by fast and almost too easy for her, considering Helga had been reading every book on becoming a therapist since the middle of seventh grade and reading up on child therapy since the beginning of ninth grade. She was packing up to head home when her roommate burst in their room yelling, "Helga! There is a party going on in my boyfriend's frat house tonight. It's the last party of the semester, and you haven't come with me to any other parties so you have to come to this one. I won't take no for an answer this time!"

Helga looked at her roommate who was looking at her sternly and pleadingly at the same time. She sighed, "Fine I guess I can go to one party. But I want to wear that pink top you just bought."

Her roommate looked puzzled for just a moment, after all she went shopping a lot, and then went over to her closet and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a pink, low cut and long sleeved buttoned blouse. "This one?" She looked over at Helga who nodded and caught it when it had been thrown at her. Helga changed into some black jeans and pulled on her black flats and was ready to go.

The party was loud and every time she turned around there was another guy who had a new drink for her. With all of the mixed alcohol in her system, Helga wasn't all that surprised when she woke up the next morning to find that she couldn't remember much of the night before. Rolling over, again she was unsurprised to see a guy beside her, and from the small ache between her legs she knew what had happened. What did surprise her was that the guy beside her was blonde. To avoid memories of when she was younger, she never dated or got with a blonde guy, it was her unspoken rule. She had never broken it before in the past even when she was completely drunk like last night. The guy shifted in his sleep and Helga suddenly found herself freezing when she realized that he had an odd shaped head.

"No," Helga said quietly to herself as she reached out hesitantly with a shaking hand to move his blonde locks off of his face to get a better look. She was out of the bed snatching her clothes up off the floor and pulling them on as she shook violently realizing who she had slept with. "This cannot be happening to me," she was mumbling to herself and looking around for her shoes when movement on the bed and a soft voice made her freeze again.

"Hey Helga." Arnold's voice, deeper and more masculine than Helga every remembered it before sent a shiver down her spine as she slowly turned to look at the boy lying in bed and looking at her with a sleepy smile on his face. The smile turned to a look of concern as he took in her facial expression, "are you alright? You look like…." His voice trailed off as a thought had occurred to him. "You don't remember what happened last night."

For just a moment, she contemplated not answering him. She pictured picking up her shoes, that she still couldn't find, and walking out. But as she looked at him, feelings that she hadn't felt in a long time were poring over her. "I- I uh, I don't remember what happened last night. I know we had sex but that's about it." She watched his face fall for a moment before he looked a little fearful and looked up at her.

"You do remember me though right?" He looked hopeful although she couldn't fathom why that was. She nodded her head slowly and watched as he looked relieved. "Helga," he started "I have missed you so much! I had no idea that I would find you at a party in the frat house that I lived in. I know meeting up like this must seem pretty weird but I guess we were both pretty drunk last night and I know that you probably haven't thought about me in years but I want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you. And I also wanted to stay that I don't usually sleep with random girls either, I'm not even sure how this happened really but," Arnold take a small breath and looked up, locking his eyes with hers, wearing that determined look that she used to swoon over (because she definitely wasn't swooning now), "I do not regret it happening. In fact, if you'd like, I would love to take you out!"

Helga watched him look at her hopefully again and knew that she would have to say something. After a deep breath and another small hesitation she said, "I guess if you want to take me out you can, next semester of course. I mean you're going back to Hillwood and I'm on my way to California for two weeks. So I'm not letting you take me out now and then forget about me over the holidays. Criminy Football Head, who exactly do you think I am?"

Looking back over at Arnold, she found him beaming at her. She arched one side of her unibrow that she still hadn't gotten rid of at him and was about to ask what he was smiling about when she felt herself being pulled back onto the bed. Arnold, with the sheet still wrapped around his naked waist pressed himself flush against Helga with that smile still on his face as he laughed softly. "You have no idea how much I've missed hearing you say that that." Helga smiled softly at him as he leaned in and sealed their lips together.

Wrapping her arms around Arnold's neck and pulling him closer as she kissed him back, she found herself pleased to note that she has missed saying it.

 **A/N** **: Once again, I hope you enjoyed this story! It's short and I think cute but you can let me know if you hated it, loved it, liked it or had no feelings over it at all.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I wasn't planning on updating this so soon. Actually, I considered this story done already but every review that I have gotten so far insists that I need to update it and my other story I tried to work on just wouldn't work for me so I decided to write a second chapter to this one for you all. Also, I want to thank everyone who have reviewed so far! You all make me so happy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!**

 **Arnold's POV**

The city of Hillwood was basically the same since they were all kids. Arnold found himself walking the streets aimlessly the day after Christmas, looking for something to occupy his time. The street he was on looked different than he remembered, and the house that he found himself in front of was filled with a family that was all wrong. He heard laughter coming through the closed windows and thought of the new girl that he knew lived here now; her polite manners and general happy politeness were a drastic contrast to the cruel blonde that had lived here so long ago.

Arnold thought back to the girl that he had woken up with after a drunken night of bad choices who he had a date with in the coming new year.

 _Flashback:_

He had been in his room studying while his frat brothers threw their last frat party of the semester, gritting his teeth against the noise when his bedroom door had burst open and a blonde girl had stumbled in looking confused, allowing her hair to fall forward and shield her face. "This isn't the bathroom" she had stated looking around as if she would see a sign that would point her in the right direction.

"No, the bathroom is down the hall on the left" Arnold said to the girl who had her hair in her face and turned to look at him blankly when he spoke. After a few moments, since he couldn't concentrate anyway, he stood "let me show you the way." He walked over to her and watched as she stumbled slightly while trying to keep her eyes on him so he reached out and took her arm and pulled her down the hall in the correct direction. "Will you be alright on your own?" He asked her as she went into the bathroom, showing his usual concern for everyone.

"Of course I will," she snapped in a voice that Arnold found slightly familiar, "who do you think you're talking to there bucko?" The door had closed with a snap and Arnold stared at the door in shock. _That couldn't be._ He stood there and waited for her to come out, wondering and hoping that she is who he now thinks she is. When the door opened several minutes later, her hair was out of her face and she looked at him surprised, "Why did you stay there," she asked in surprise before furrowing an all too familiar unibrow at him, "I told you that I could handle it on my own."

"Helga?" Arnold asked, his heart pounding in his chest while he waited for her to confirm or deny her identity. She looked so familiar and yet so different, he watched her with bated breath.

"Yeah, what's it to ya, football head?" She asked before pushing past him and immediately freezing and whipping back around, "Arnold?" He nodded at her and laughed as she said "wow, it's been a long time. Come on, let's grab a drink."

 _End Flashback_

He let out a sigh and walked off, on his way to the park as he shot a text his best friend Gerald, who had been going to college in Massachusetts, to meet him there.

 **Helga's POV**

It was the day before Christmas Eve and Helga had yet to get a certain football headed guy out of her head. She could understand why that was of course, she had spent years doing everything in her power to keep him out of her head; avoiding blonde guys like the plague and keeping green eyed guys at a distance but not necessarily completely away. So now that she had the real thing on her mind and in knowing in the immediate future that she would see him and actually have a date with him was not going to leave her mind any time soon. So of course instead of giving way to daydreams as they would have when she was younger, they now gave way to doubts instead.

 _He obviously only wants to take me out because we slept together. Why else would he want to go out with me? I haven't seen him in years and we weren't exactly friends when we were kids so the only reason he could actually want to go out with me is because he is still a nice guy who now feels bad because we had a one night stand._ That thought made her clench her jaw. _Then again, he is probably in Hillwood right now schmoozing up to someone else or complaining about how he asked me out. He probably regrets it._

"Helga, dinner is ready!" Her mother Miriam called up the stairs to her. Sitting down to dinner, she thought out her options: _a_ ) she can stay here and wait for school to start up again and wait for him to contact her _b_ ) She can stay here and wait for school to start up again and avoid him when he decides to contact her _if he contacts me_ , she thought only slightly bitterly or _c_ ) She could contact him someway before the semester starts just so that she can be aware of where they stand. She mentally drew up a pros and cons list of each option and just when she was leaning closer to option _b_ , her mother announced that her mother was feeling under the weather lately and that she was going to go and try to help her out and she would be happy if one of them could help.

"Well Miriam, if I have to help you out then I don't want to listen to your mothers attitude" Bob grumpily said as he ate his potatoes. "And what about Helga? We can't just leave her here on her own, so I guess we will just have to take you with us little lady." He finished his sentence while looking at her.

Trying to hide her horror at that idea, she loved her grandmother but the woman got really needy, she said "Oh, mom I was just thinking about going to a friend's place for a few days anyway so…."

"Oh that's great honey, it's been so long since you hung out with that nice girl Phoebe maybe you should go and see her. What do you think B?" Miriam looked at her husband with a smile on her face over the idea.

"What? Oh, yeah I guess so. But doesn't she still live in Hillwood?" They both looked at Helga questioningly and she tried not to flinch. Helga had not spoken to Phoebe since the summer before seventh grade and had no idea where she lived now.

Opening her mouth to say so, option _c_ popped into her head. "Uh, yeah she does. But I wouldn't be able to stay there all break so I would need money for a hotel." Looking up at her father she went on casually, "I could use the credit card you got for me in case of emergencies, for the hotel and food and stuff. I mean, you know I don't use it very often and that you can trust me not to go crazy." _If I go to Hillwood, then I can see for myself if he is seeing anyone and maybe we could do our date early._

"Yeah, I guess that would work. But you make sure that you don't go overboard with your spending. You get a hotel room, some food and those notebooks you said you needed for school. That's it! You got it?" Bob looked menacing but Helga just rolled her eyes at him.

"I understand, and thanks." She went back to eating with a small smile on her face. After dinner, she went back up to her room to retrieve her credit card and made her flight details wishing she could pop for first class but knowing her dad would be checking the bill went for coach. After that was figured out, she booked a hotel room for the week and started packing ready to depart the next night to the place that she hadn't been since she was 10 years old.

 **So I'm going to end this here while I think up what kind of date they should have. I am going to admit that I am making this up as I go so if anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them! Please review and let me know what you think. I will try to have another chapter up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!**

 **Helga's POV**

The hotel room was small and outdated but it had the basic amenities she needed and it was clean so she couldn't complain too much. Her flight had arrived pretty early in the morning so most of the first day was spent sleeping and then she had ventured out that night to wander the old neighborhood.

Passing Phoebe's old house which looked dark but still lived in, although that doesn't mean that is where her family still is, passing by her old house she saw a couple of lights flashing in the windows which made her think someone had a flashlight out which made her remember staying up late with a flashlight of her own writing in her pink notebook until the early hours of the morning. Helga passed by the tree that all of them had once defended from her father who wanted to knock down for his business and walked through the park that she used to go to write in her book. Her feet took her to the pier where she threw a rock in the water remembering old times with Phoebe and that awful thanksgiving when Arnold and her had met at that pier and went off to drop in on Mr. Simmons' joke of a Thanksgiving.

Helga felt like she was on autopilot just walking around reliving her past memories as if she were caught in a strange, distant dream. When awareness came back she stood in the middle of Gerald Field looking at the brick wall that used to keep the score of all of their baseball games. It was this spot that she had been standing on with Phoebe by her side laughing about something that long since forgotten when her father Big Bob had walked up to her and told her in front of everyone that his beeper emporium had become very popular in California and that she had to come home and pack her bags and that he would give her a few minutes to say goodbye to her little friends. She had been confused and had hardly managed the words good bye before her father was pulling her away from everyone. Helga remembered Phoebe following and helping her pack her things and then Phoebe was hugging her and telling her how much she would be missed. The next morning the Pataki's were on a plane and trying to make a life in California.

Standing in this spot, a year or so short of a decade later, Helga looked around feeling somewhat nostalgic and very out of place. With the street lights as her guide, she made her way slowly back to the hotel only pausing for a moment as she looked up the street which would take her to the Sunset Arms before turning her head and trudging on.

 **Arnold's POV**

Gerald was full of stories from college; being on a basketball scholarship, it hadn't taken him long to fall in with the cheerleaders and other jocks. However he was still Arnold's best friend so they were able to talk about a lot of things. It took hours before they finally got to the subject that Arnold wanted to talk about although it came from a lewd comment that Gerald made out of nowhere (which just so happened to be a question Gerald had asked him almost every time they talked on the phone) "So did you hook up with anyone yet at that college of yours?"

Arnold didn't like the idea of reminding his friend of their childhood bully by admitting that he slept with her but with the way the conversation was going, he doubted that there would be another opening any time soon to bring her up so he answered, "Uh, yeah I did. You know her actually." The way Gerald's eyes went wide made him kind of want to laugh. Arnold had been in a few relationships that never seemed to last always with blonde haired and blue eyed women that nobody really questioned, but he did.

His standards were too high, he had been told on multiple occasions by multiple people. He would consider one girl's hair too dark or too light and he had broken up with a girl and tried to explain to Gerald how her eyes just didn't have color that was perfect or the first girl he had broken up with because the words she used were too basic. Nobody had ever really made the connection that his mind had made after eleventh grade and his sixth failed relationship with a girl that half of the school had wanted and she had given her time to him. Everything about that girl had been practically perfect and at first he was happy as could be, however she was so _nice_. When they were together she always agreed with him no matter what it was, there was no _fight_ in her and Arnold had gotten bored quickly.

After that relationship his grandfather had made an offhand comment about how he seemed to _want_ an argument and with all of these blonde girls in the house he keeps remembering Arnold's mean little friend with the blonde hair and the one eyebrow. That comment had been a slap in the face to him as he remembered the girl that had always been yelling at him over nothing, the girl who was so mean and yet so nice when she went out of her way to do something for him. It had taken him years to realize that he was looking for Helga Pataki in a girlfriend, and how nobody seemed to fit his standards. When he had went off to college after breaking up with his latest girl friend who sneered every time she saw something pink which irritated him to no end, he had sworn off dating because it wasn't going to happen, he would never find her and he knew that.

Then he had woken up and there was the girl in the pink shirt with that perfect blond hair and when he called her name she had looked at him with those perfect blue eyes and he felt alive, almost wired as she spoke and even in the barest of words she had that fire that he needed, that he had been searching for. He wasn't sure when he had fallen for her but he didn't regret one second that they had spent together or would ever spend together.

Gerald looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Who do I know that you would fall into bed with?" Gerald knew his type and all of the girls that Arnold had slept with, he knew that Arnold wasn't really one for one night stands either.

"Do you, uh remember Helga Pataki? It was her, I guess she goes to my college and I never ran into her since we are studying different subjects and with NYU being such a big school…" He let his sentence trail off as he watched his friends eyes widen and stare at him with his mouth slightly open. Arnold watched as Gerald processed the information that he was being told, he could practically hear the gears winding in his head from the news that he had just received.

Finally he was able to speak, "Y- you slept with Helga Pataki? The Helga G Pataki?! The one who moved away when we were kids?" Arnold only nodded mutely, he could see the light bulb going off in his friends head, "So that's why….. Wait, are you sure Arnold? Are you positive that it wasn't someone else?" Arnold gave him a small smile as he shook his head and watched the hope fall from his friends face. "I think that I have to think about this more." Arnold watched his friend walk away not really surprised about his reaction. He turned his feet toward the boarding house and made his way home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, here is chapter 4 of my story. This chapter is Helga's POV and I decided to take the suggestion of her running into an old friend. I hope that you all enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!**

Dreaming was always where Helga found an escape; when sleeping, she could do anything and go anywhere. Once she opened her eyes up though, she remembered where she was as her eyes took in the dull wall paper of her hotel room and she also remembered the fact that while she had once considered this place home, it was obvious that she no longer belonged there. Helga decided to grab a quick breakfast and look to see if she could change her flight plans so that she could go home to California for the rest of her holiday before school.

The restaurant was crowded and Helga found that she was the only one sitting alone. She didn't really mind though, being alone is usually easier to deal with than having to talk to anybody. She was just digging into the stack of pancakes that had been put in front of her when, "H- Helga? Helga Pataki? I- is that really you?" she looked up to see a short girl with long black hair and a pretty face who was wearing a light blue kimono.

"Phoebe? What are you doing here?" Helga's surprise was slightly short lived at she found herself with an armful of her Japanese friend and a mouthful of the previous mentioned hair which tasted bad compared to her pancakes which were getting cold in front of her.

"Oh Helga, I knew it was you! How have you been? I am so sorry that we lost contact. I was here visiting with my grandmother, she came for New Years. We have so much to talk about! How is California and where are you going to school? Are you studying English? It was always your best subject." Phoebe leaned back from her attack, or hug if that's what it was, but stayed close as she just continued to ramble on asking questions and just gazing at her as if she were the best thing ever. But that had been how she always used to be, Helga was willing to bet that Phoebe had barely changed at all. When she finally stopped with a "so, why are you here?" Helga smiled at her and tried to answer all of her questions as she remembered them except for that last one.

They talked for a while about how their lives have been going, Phoebe had apparently finished her first semester at the college she was attending in Japan which didn't surprise Helga at all considering when they were younger, Phoebe's father had talked of no other school than the one he had attended in Japan and his hope that his daughter would follow in his footsteps. Phoebe understood Helga's interest in becoming a child therapist considering her past and the fact that Dr. Bliss seemed to have had such a huge impact on her life.

Helga and Phoebe walked from the hotel over to the park, stopping on the way to grab a couple of ice cream cones from Slausens, finally settling onto the bench which they used to frequent when they were kids. It was nice to see a friendly face and to feel as if she wasn't an unwanted guest. Phoebe was so similar to her younger self so she was familiar and yet she was so different from Helga's friends back in California that it reminded her to think before she spoke sometimes because as much as she remembered about Phoebe, she had to remember that she wasn't the same person as she had been when they were nine.

"So Helga, why are you here anyway?" Phoebe asked her.

"Well, I actually ran into Ar- someone from when we were kids and it made me realize that I actually kind of missed this place. So I figured that while I had a week to myself that I would come and visit." Helga hoped that Phoebe wouldn't catch her almost slip of who she ran into. It wouldn't be a big deal if she did know but that would start an unnecessary conversation about him that she didn't really want to get into quite yet.

"Oh well, that would make sense. I am really happy that everything has been working out for you Helga, I really am." The smile on her face was as sweet as Helga remembered which made her smile as well. Phoebe had been her best friend for a reason, and talking to her again made Helga remember why she had always kept her around.

"Me too. I am also glad that you are following your dreams to make your future better." She knew that sounded a little corny but she didn't really know what to say to her about having a good life. The main reason everything was better was because she no longer lived with her parents who were just as forgetful about her life as ever considering the fact that her mother still thought she talked to Phoebe when she had told her years ago that they didn't talk any more. But Phoebe didn't need to hear about her family troubles. When they were kids, she had no problem doing just that however, they weren't best friends any more. They had grown up, and while it was great chatting with her again, Helga knew that this could be the starting of a new friendship, but it would take a while until they could be best friends again.

The two spent the rest of the day going to old haunts and laughing together. The awkward feelings from the day before where she felt like an outsider were almost forgotten in the wake of hanging out with her old best friend. When it was time to say goodbye, they were both sad but they made plans to hang out the next day. There was a carnival in town and they both wanted to go and ride some rides along with eat some cotton candy and fried dough. Helga fell asleep that night, exhausted and excited to hang out with Phoebe the next day.

 **Alright, so Phoebe and Helga are going to the carnival! Please review and let me know what you think of the story and if there is any particular direction you want the next chapter to go. Should she run into Arnold there? Or should she miss him again, let me know!**


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